Portal:Ukraine
The Ukraine Portal - Портал України
Ukraine Україна (Ukrainian) | |
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ISO 3166 code | UA |
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which borders it to the east and northeast. It also borders Belarus to the north; Poland and Slovakia to the west; Hungary, Romania and Moldova to the southwest; with a coastline along the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov to the south and southeast. Kyiv is the nation's capital and largest city, followed by Kharkiv, Dnipro, and Odesa. Ukraine's official language is Ukrainian.
During the Middle Ages, Ukraine was the site of early Slavic expansion and the area later became a key centre of East Slavic culture under the state of Kievan Rus', which emerged in the 9th century. The state eventually disintegrated into rival regional powers and was destroyed by the Mongol invasions of the 13th century. The area was then contested, divided, and ruled by a variety of external powers for the next 600 years, including the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, the Austrian Empire, the Ottoman Empire, and the Tsardom of Russia. The Cossack Hetmanate emerged in central Ukraine in the 17th century, but was partitioned between Russia and Poland, and absorbed by the Russian Empire. Ukrainian nationalism developed and, following the Russian Revolution in 1917, the short-lived Ukrainian People's Republic was formed. The Bolsheviks consolidated control over much of the former empire and established the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, which became a constituent republic of the Soviet Union when it was formed in 1922. In the early 1930s, millions of Ukrainians died in the Holodomor, a human-made famine. The German occupation during World War II in Ukraine was devastating, with 7 million Ukrainian civilians killed, including most Ukrainian Jews.
Ukraine gained independence in 1991 as the Soviet Union dissolved, and declared itself neutral. A new constitution was adopted in 1996. A series of mass demonstrations, known as the Euromaidan, led to the establishment of a new government in 2014 after a revolution. Russia then unilaterally annexed Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula, and pro-Russian unrest culminated in a war in the Donbas between Russian-backed separatists and government forces in eastern Ukraine. Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Since the outbreak of war with Russia, Ukraine has continued to seek closer ties with the United States, European Union, and NATO.
Ukraine is a unitary state and its system of government is a semi-presidential republic. A developing country, it is the poorest country in Europe by nominal GDP per capita and corruption remains a significant issue. However, due to its extensive fertile land, pre-war Ukraine was one of the largest grain exporters in the world. Ukraine is considered a middle power in global affairs, and the Ukrainian Armed Force is the fifth largest armed force in the world in terms of both active personnel as well as total number of personnel with the eighth largest defence budget in the world. The Ukrainian Armed Forces also operates one of the largest and most diverse drone fleets in the world. It is a founding member of the United Nations, as well as a member of the Council of Europe, the World Trade Organization, and the OSCE. It is in the process of joining the European Union and has applied to join NATO. (Full article...)
In the news
- 21 November 2024 – Russian invasion of Ukraine
- Russian strikes against Ukrainian infrastructure
- Russia strikes Dnipro with a projectile stated by Russian President Vladimir Putin to be a new Oreshnik intermediate-range ballistic missile model. This confirms earlier reports from the United States and other western officials, who said that Russia had used an IRBM after initial reports misidentified the missile as a RS-26 Rubezh intercontinental ballistic missile. (Reuters) (CBS News) (BBC News)
- United Kingdom and the Russian invasion of Ukraine
- Russian ambassador to the United Kingdom, Andrey Kelin, says that the UK is now "directly involved" in the war in Ukraine following yesterday's use of Storm Shadow cruise missiles by Ukraine to strike targets inside Russia. (Sky News)
- Hungary and the Russian invasion of Ukraine
- Hungary announces the deployment of a missile defense system on its border with Ukraine, saying the threat of escalation with Russia is now "greater than ever". (Reuters)
- 21 November 2024 – International sanctions during the Russian invasion of Ukraine
- Russia–United States relations
- U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen announces that the Treasury Department has imposed sanctions against Gazprombank, the third-largest Russian bank, along with its subsidiaries. (The Hill)
- 20 November 2024 – Russian invasion of Ukraine
- United Kingdom and the Russian invasion of Ukraine
- British-produced Storm Shadow cruise missiles are launched into Russian territory by Ukraine for the first time, following approval by the Starmer cabinet. (The Guardian)
Featured pictures
Did you know (auto-generated)
- ... that the 1885 spiritual anthem Prayer for Ukraine was performed by a choir from New York on Saturday Night Live?
- ... that DeepStateMap.Live, an interactive map of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, received up to 120,000 visitors in 30 minutes during the Battle of Izium in the 2022 Kharkiv counteroffensive?
- ... that the choral music of Artemy Vedel, who is regarded as one of the Golden Three composers of 18th-century Ukrainian classical music, was censored but performed from handwritten copies?
- ... that during a German charity concert for Ukraine, Slovakian singer Judita Nagyová performed a solo in the finale of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony?
- ... that Oksana Lyniv founded the Youth Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine in 2016 and conducted them in thirty concerts across ten music festivals in 2022?
- ... that following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, a diverse group of exiled Russian public figures formed the Anti-War Committee of Russia to unite different political movements to oppose the war?
More did you know -
- ... that Ukrainian composer Mykola Leontovych (pictured), known for the "Carol of the Bells", was nicknamed "Ukrainian Bach" in France?
- ... that the Khreschatyk is the main street of Ukrainian capital Kyiv on which Orange Revolution and other historical events mainly took place?
- ... that the married Western Ukrainian Clergy became a hereditary caste that dominated western Ukrainian society?
- ... that Vasyl Avramenko is often referred as "The father of the Ukrainian dance"?
- ... that the neo-classical Verkhovna Rada building in Kyiv features a hundred-tonne glass dome over the chamber where the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine convenes to enact legislation?
- ... that although the secular music of Mykola Leontovych was well known in the twentieth century, the Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom was little known because of a ban on sacred music in the Soviet Union?
Selected article -
Kievan Rus', also known as Kyivan Rus', was the first East Slavic state and later an amalgam of principalities in Eastern Europe from the late 9th to the mid-13th century. Encompassing a variety of polities and peoples, including East Slavic, Norse, and Finnic, it was ruled by the Rurik dynasty, founded by the Varangian prince Rurik. The name was coined by Russian historians in the 19th century to describe the period when Kiev was at the center. At its greatest extent in the mid-11th century, Kievan Rus' stretched from the White Sea in the north to the Black Sea in the south and from the headwaters of the Vistula in the west to the Taman Peninsula in the east, uniting the East Slavic tribes.
According to the Primary Chronicle, the first ruler to unite East Slavic lands into what would become Kievan Rus' was Oleg the Wise (r. 879–912). He extended his control from Novgorod south along the Dnieper river valley to protect trade from Khazar incursions from the east, and took control of the city. Sviatoslav I (r. 943–972) achieved the first major territorial expansion of the state, fighting a war of conquest against the Khazars. Vladimir the Great (r. 980–1015) spread Christianity with his own baptism and, by decree, extended it to all inhabitants of Kiev and beyond. Kievan Rus' reached its greatest extent under Yaroslav the Wise (r. 1019–1054); his sons assembled and issued its first written legal code, the Russkaya Pravda, shortly after his death. (Full article...)
In the news
- 21 November 2024 – Russian invasion of Ukraine
- Russian strikes against Ukrainian infrastructure
- Russia strikes Dnipro with a projectile stated by Russian President Vladimir Putin to be a new Oreshnik intermediate-range ballistic missile model. This confirms earlier reports from the United States and other western officials, who said that Russia had used an IRBM after initial reports misidentified the missile as a RS-26 Rubezh intercontinental ballistic missile. (Reuters) (CBS News) (BBC News)
- United Kingdom and the Russian invasion of Ukraine
- Russian ambassador to the United Kingdom, Andrey Kelin, says that the UK is now "directly involved" in the war in Ukraine following yesterday's use of Storm Shadow cruise missiles by Ukraine to strike targets inside Russia. (Sky News)
- Hungary and the Russian invasion of Ukraine
- Hungary announces the deployment of a missile defense system on its border with Ukraine, saying the threat of escalation with Russia is now "greater than ever". (Reuters)
- 21 November 2024 – International sanctions during the Russian invasion of Ukraine
- Russia–United States relations
- U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen announces that the Treasury Department has imposed sanctions against Gazprombank, the third-largest Russian bank, along with its subsidiaries. (The Hill)
- 20 November 2024 – Russian invasion of Ukraine
- United Kingdom and the Russian invasion of Ukraine
- British-produced Storm Shadow cruise missiles are launched into Russian territory by Ukraine for the first time, following approval by the Starmer cabinet. (The Guardian)
Selected anniversaries for November
- November 11—November 12, 1918 — Battle of Przemyśl was fought between Polish and Ukrainian forces.
- November 24, 2007 - the official day of remembrance for people who died as a result of Holodomor and political repression.
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